All is Fair in Love and War
by Harmony Stanzer
Summary: A relationship can survive a war, and so many other things.


_He fell… I watched him fall from where he thought he was high above us all. Then the feeling started to sink in: it was over._

I looked up from the mass of dead bodies that I was practically swimming in and I saw him limping down the path in front of me. I watched. Suddenly the wind began to whip my cheeks, and in a torrent of emotion I realized that I was running towards him. "Draco!" I yelled as I thundered across the pavement, trying to get to him. We could finally have the life we wanted, no glares from people recognizing our different heritages, because it didn't matter anymore, none of it mattered.

The breath was forced from my lungs when we collided, the force knocking us both to the ground with a hard smack. The white of his hair, dirtied with sweat and blood, hung over his eyes, which I gently tucked away to set my own eyes into the gleaming pools of silver which crowned his perfect features, undoubtedly. I ran my finger over several cuts that mauled his beautifully flawless skin and kissed the largest of them that ran along his jaw line. I remember doing the same thing many times before, without the disfiguring cut.

It started during third year, when I punched him with all of my might. I realized that that would be the only time that I would ever hurt him because that one hit, practically blew a whole through my body. We both ended up discovering our feelings for each other that night. I remember it very clearly.

I walked out to the Black Lake, where I would spend many a sleepless night. He stood there silently as well. He seemed as though he were a part of the atmosphere. I joined him by the lake side and whispered an apology; he seemed to ignore me entirely. I went to speak but as my lips parted, his were crashing onto mine, the kiss was sweet but hungry for more, and so our secret relationship began. I would see him whenever it was possible to get away from Ron and Harry, and for him to do the same to his friends. We would meet mostly in that same spot at night, it held special meaning to us both after the first night. Things got more and more complicated though, as the years passed. I could almost feel his devastation when I was away from school for what would have been my seventh and final year at Hogwarts.

Everything climaxed when the Snatchers caught Harry, Ron and me in the woods. That same day, when Bellatrix's dagger was thrown towards Dobby, our relationship (if that's what anyone would even call it) changed, I would like to think for the better, but circumstance could influence onlookers to say the exact opposite. I lunged forward to save the elf and I found myself practically tripping out of the apparition cloud. She dragged me, by the hair down two flights of steps, while shouting all kinds of obscenities, 'you filthy little mudblood' being her obvious favorite of the lot. It was then that I became a captive of the Malfoy's. They tortured me again and again for information, and though I wish I could say I kept my will through the pain and that I revealed nothing; I let them know everything that I did, though I'm entirely positive none of it helped them. I truly had no idea where my friends were.

I looked through the barred window in my cell, and heard footsteps coming from the upper floors of the mansion, I figured it was going to be my daily beating from Lucious, but down the stairs glided my beautiful Draco. He locked all of the doors behind him and ran to my side when he was sure no one was around.

_I lay crumpled in a corner on the floor and he stroked my side, trying to get me to turn towards him. He whispered my name many times but I didn't want to move, I didn't want to even be alive at this point. He kissed my neck cautiously, not sure how I would react, and when I didn't his body became even more rigid. "Hermione…"He whispered, "I love you…" I turned onto my back with a grimace, and he smiled. A sight that would light up the darkest room and it did. _

"_I love you too, Draco." I went to sit up and kiss him but he lay down next to me and kissed me gingerly, before I could even move an inch. Eventually the kisses turned into more then I would like to admit, but with Draco, there were no regrets. I assume he was telling his father that he was raping me because he would come down daily, and his father left me alone. We used disfiguring charms to make it appear as though I was being beaten as well, but inside, I was healing. _

_One day Draco came down the steps crying, and he grabbed my cheeks and said the words that got me to where I am now, "They know about us! I'm getting you out of here now. I love you though, Hermione, and don't you dare forget that." He apparated me to safety, about a mile from Harry and Ron's hiding place. _

"Hermione?" He pulled me back to the present, "Answer the questions."

"What question, Draco?" I leaned up and kissed him softly.

"Are you happy? Do _I_ make you happy? Who have you become since I saw you last?"

I thought about this for a few moments, both of us oblivious to the world around us. With a deep breath I answered. "I'm neither one nor the other. You're neither pushing nor pulling in either direction. It's an equivalent of an old fashioned scale, where the weights are measured equally to determine a balance. I'm the scale, you're a set of weights and circumstance is another set. Depression lays on one side of the balance, mania and euphoria on the opposite. Your weights contribute to euphoria, circumstance to depression. The more I'm in contact with you, whether physical, emotional or mental, the scale weighs down euphoria, the same follows for circumstance on the negative. There are times where you get the best of me, others where circumstance lays claim to my mind. Does it feel right? Yes, and again no. One can not always experience happiness or one does not know the true meaning of such. It feels right to be happy, but only when it has some kind of balance. Who I have become though is a question on deeper theological terms and questions not yet asked, and not yet answered. Have I become more in tune with the person I should be? Yes, very much so. Who am I? That is something that I will not be able to tell you, nor anyone else until the day that I die, for how can I say who I am, when I have not done all that I can. Who do I want to be? I want to be me, happy and sad, good and bad, all of the dimensions of me are what makes up my personality. You aide this in all areas, you allow me to be more of myself by balancing out the circumstance. You have forced me to change, but it is a positive force that has had positive outcomes on the things that are past, the things that are happening, the things that will happen and most importantly the things that are within me: mind, heart, and body."

He laughed heartily, "You never run out of things to say do you?" I smiled and kissed him again softly. "I want a _one_ word answer this time from you. Will you marry me?"

Much to his satisfaction, I obliged to the one word rule, "Yes."


End file.
